When I saw this article at First Read, I had to make sure it wasn’t a reprint of a piece from The Onion. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says he’s “not into politics.” Could’ve fooled me. He’s married to Virginia, founder-of-a-tea-party group-turned-lobbyist who bragged about all the influence she had (who also left a rather strange voice mail for Anita Hill), and who lobbied against health care reform.
This is the same justice who Herman Cain said “is one of my models.”
So fine, Thomas– who ruled in favor of Citizens United– claims he isn’t literally “into” politics, but he also isn’t exactly unbiased, objective, or even-handed, let alone nonpartisan:
As Mark Karlin at BuzzFlash pointed out, “Thomas… didn’t even report large financial payments that benefited him and his wife, as he ruled on cases that involved the sources of the personal funds.”
And of course, there was the Clarence Thomas gifting scandal:
There have been alarming reports of justices – most notably Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – attending political events and using their position to fundraise for organizations.
You get the picture. Now here is what Clarence Thomas said during a forum at Duquesne University’s law school in response to a moderator’s question of whether he was surprised that there was a black president. Per First Read:
[H]e is not surprised there’s a black president. But he knew that it would be one “approved by the elites, the media.” “I guess I thought there would be black coaches, black heads of universities, maybe again, as I said, I’m naïve. But the thing I always knew it would have to be a black president who was approved by the elites, the media, because anybody they didn’t agree with they would take apart…. And that will happen with virtually– you pick your person. Any black person, who says something that is not a prescribed things that they expect from a black person, it will be picked apart. You can pick anybody. Don’t pick me. Pick anyone who has decided not to go along with it. There’s a price to pay. So I always assumed it would be somebody the media had to agree with.” [...]
Asked if he had any “common ground” with the left-of-center president, the conservative jurist, said, “You know that’s hard to say. It’s like, what common ground did I have with President Bush? 43? You know, I’m not into politics. I don’t like politics. And I try not to– I do my job. I have common ground with some of the appointees, say with Justice Ginsburg or with Justice Kagan, because we’re doing the same thing, but as politics, I just don’t do politics. I don’t like politics.”
Go that? He doesn’t like politics.
To be crystal clear, he just doesn’t do politics.
Did I mention he doesn’t like politics?
He added:
“I just don’t like politics… I mean, it is–, I’m just done. I don’t like politics. I like history. I like things of substance. I don’t understand politics. I don’t understand scuba diving, you know? When I think of scuba diving, I think of drowning. So I’m not against it, it’s just not– I’m not going under water.”
In case you missed it, he “hates politics.” That might have gotten by you.
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